Method of making printed signatures



July 20, 1943. I. GURWICK METI iOD OF MAKING PRINTED SIGNATURES Filed Aug. 21, 1941 3Sheets-Sheet l r0 2 w 0 A 2 lNVENTOR IRVING GURWICK r 9 ATTORNEYS July 20, 1943. GURWICK METHOD OF MAKING PRINTED SIGNATURES Filed Aug. 21, 1941 5 Shqats-Sheet 2 INVENTOR IRVING GURWICK F 5 ATTORNEYS July 20, 1943. I. GURWICK 2,324,834 1 METHOD OF MAKING PRINTED SIGNA'L'URES Filed Aug. 21, 1941 3'Sheets-Sheet 3 206 204 Fig. I]

INVENTOR IRVING GUR'WICK ATTORNEYS Patented July 20, 1943 METHOD OF MAKING PRINTED SIGNATURES Irving Gurwick, Long Beach, N. Y. Application August 21, 1941, Serial No. 407,711

7 Claims.

This invention relates to printing and bookbinding, and more particularly to a method of making printed signatures.

A special problem arises in the printing of cata logues for temporary use, such as mail order catalogues. Many of the pages are printed by a rotogravure process, and this requires the use of extremely large rotogravure printing" presses, for example, an eighty-two inch press with a complicated folder for folding the resulting large sheet into a complete signature A large press and folder of this character is extremely costly, so much so that only a few printers in the entire country have presses large enough to handle this work. A large share, perhaps half the cost of the press, is for the molding mechanism.

These signatures are afterward collected and bound by a so-called Perfect binder made by T. W. 8; C. B. Sheridan Company. InAcontrast with ordinary bookbinding, this machine cuts away the common folded edge of the signature and cements the out edges to the cover of the catalogue, the individual pages being held solely by a thin line of adhesive. The remaining edges are subsequently trimmed.

The problem of printing mail order catalogues is aggravated by the need for printing the same in a very short time. Because of changes in style and changes in price, etc., the deadline for the catalogue contents is held open to as late a date as possible, but even so it requires three weeks or more to complete the catalogue.

The primary object of the present invention is to overcome the difliculties set forth above. A more specific object is to make it possible to print signatures on small rotogravure machines of a type which is relatively inexpensive and found deadline" for the catalogue, and will also improve the competitive position of the companies seeking to have the printing done, because of the large number of printers available for the work. To the accomplishment of the foregoing general. and other more specific objects, which will hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the method steps and their relation one to the other as hereinafter are more particularly described in the specification and sought to be defined in the claims. The specification is accompanied by drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a single printed sheet made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof; I Fig. 3 shows a number of sheets making up a signature;

Fig. 4 illustrates how the individual signatures of a stack of similar signatures may be bound by heating athermoplastic adhesive;

Fig. 5 illustrates how the individual signatures of a stack of similar signatures may be bound by the use of a solvent;

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates how different signatures are bound to form a single book or catalogue;

3 Fig. 'Z-lllustrates how a single signature may be provided with cover pages to form a small pamphlet;

.Fig. 8 schematicallyillustrates in section the rotogravure printing and reelingof a web of pa- Fig. 9 shows the addition of means to apply plane of the line ll-ll of Fig. 10; 1

Fig. 12 schematically illustrates'the application of a line of adhesive in the collating machine; i

Fig. 13 is a schematic sectional View taken in the plane of the line |3--|3 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 14 is a generally similar section, but showing a modification in which the webs are disposed at an angle for the overlapping deposit of sheets on the conveyor;

Fig, 15 schematically illustrates a multi-color printing press;

Fig. 16 is a fragmentary plan view showing how wide Websmay be slit in the collating machine;

Fig. 17' is a section taken in the plane of the line l'|--|'I of Fig. 16; and

Fig. 18 is a section taken in the plane of the line [8 -18 of Fig. 16.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, I there show a single sheet I2 carrying appropriate printed matter l4. Both the front and back may be printed. An edge of the sheet is provided on one side with a line of adhesive I6. This is preferably a dry adhesive which may be subsequently treated to make the same effective. For example, the adhesive may be a thermoplastic adhesive which is subsequently fused by heat, or it may be a soluble adhesive subsequently treated by a solvent to soften the same. In either case the adhesive when dried is capable of being plasticized (by heat or a solvent) while the sheets are in collected and stacked condition.

Fig. 3 schematically shows a number of sheets gathered to form a signature. -Each sheet is provided with a line of adhesive, except the end sheet l8, so that there is no adhesive on the outside of the signature. For this reason a number of signatures may be stacked indefinitely and all treated simultaneously. A few such signatures, marked A, are shown in Fig, 4, where they are being heat treated by means of a hot plate 20, which may be heated by means of electrical resistors 22. The stack may be compressed by oppositely movable end plates, not shown in the drawings. In practice the stack is much longer than as shown in the drawings, and the signatures may have more pages yet are thinner than is shown. The signatures A" do not adhere because there is no adhesive between the outer sheets.

In Fig. 5 a stack of signatures A is being treated by means of a very fine mist or fog'24,

- which may be water in the case of a water soluble adhesive, or acetone or the like for a cellulose acetate or like adhesive. Here again, the individual signatures do not adhere together because I performed in a Perfect binder, or in a Simp1i-' fled binder, because it is not necessary to preliminarily cut away the folded edges, there being none. The binding operation for my invention requires only a single simple precaution, namely, the preferred use of an adhesive which is compatible with the adhesive used for the individual signatures.

In some cases a small pamphlet may be desired consisting of only a single signature, and in such case it is merely necessary to make the top and bottom sheets 32 and 34 of somewhat heavier paper, as is indicated in Fig. 7, so that a single signature constitutes the entire pamphlet. In such case the cover 34 is provided with a line of adhesive like the intermediate sheets, but, the cover- 32 is not provided with such a line of adhesive.

The printing operation is schematically illustrated in Fig. 8. It is here assumed that only a single color printing is required, and considering my invention in its simplest form, the machine may be assumed to be so small as to print only a single sheet at a time. Specifically, the paper roll 36 supplies a web 38 having a width equal to the width of a single sheet. This web is printed on one side by means of a rotogravure cylinder 40, the periphery of which corresponds to the length of a single printing sheet. It will be understood that the cylinder 40 is printed in in-, taglio and runs in a bath 42 of ink or color which is scraped from the cylinder by means of doctor blade 46. The printed web then passes through a suitable drier l6 supplied with a blast of air from a blower 48. The web is then reversed by means of idlers and the unprinted face is fed over a rotogravure cylinder 50 running in bath 52 and doctored by blade 54. The web then passes through a drier 56 connected to the blower 4B. The printed web is then reeled as is indicated at 58.

If desired, the printing machine may be provided with an attachment for applying the line of adhesive. This is illustrated in Fig. 9 which corresponds-exactly to the second printing stage of Fig. 8, except that a thin glue wheel 60 is provided, this wheel running in contact with a drum 62 immersed in a glue bath 64. The line of glue is dried in the drier 56 previously referred to. The glue used is preferably one which dries to a bone-dry or non-tacky condition, so that no difiiculty will arise during unreeling of the web',

and also during stacking of the sheets into signatures, for the sheets must be freely slidable over one another for a uniform stacking.

The signature may consist of any desired number of sheets. It is not at all necessary to have a number suitable for folding. There is no limitation to the conventional 8, l2, I6, or 32 page signature, and any desired number, even odd numbers of sheets, may be provided.

The desired number of sheets are printed by printing a similar number of webs or rolls of paper. Of course, the printing establishment may have a number of printing machines, but in the simplest case, a signature of, say, eight sheets, will require the running of eight difierent webs through the machine, each with a different cylinder. The printed rolls are then simultaneously unwound and severed into individualisheets which are collected or collated by means of a moving belt or conveyor. This is schematically illustrated in Figs. 10l2, referring to which it will be seen that a number of printed rolls 10, 12, etc., are disposed side by side, and the printed webs H, 16, and 18, etc., are fed from the rolls by suitable feed rollers 80. The upper and lower feed rollers may be mounted on common shafts which, in turn, may be geared together for simultaneous equal rotation. The shaft 82 is driven by a suitable source of power, such as a motor 84. In the specific form of the invention here illustrated, the feed of the web is to be intermittent. This may be accomplished in any desired manner, and in the present case the shaft 82 is provided with a clutch schematically indicated at 86. The clutch may be electrically controlled by means of a suitable solenoid and a photo-electric eye hereinafter referred to. It will be understood that all of the webs, including the webs l6 and 18, are provided with lines of adhesive 88, except that the end web 14 is not provided with adhesive.

The lines of adhesive may be applied during the printing operation, as previously mentioned, or may be added as a separate operation, or may be applied during the unrolling operation here shown. In the latter case the paper rolls must be spaced far enough from the feed rollers to permit the inclusion of a drying conduit, and this is schematically illustrated in Fig. 12, in which the web from roll 92 is fed between a glue wheel 94 and a backing roller 96, the glue wheel running in contact with a wheel 98 immersed in a glue bath Hill. (The term glue is used for convenience, and is intended to include all kinds of adhesives.) The adhesive is dried by passing the web through a drying conduit I82 supplied with a blast of air through pipe I84.

The web then goes to the feed rollers 88 previ-.

ously referred to, and thence to the cutting knives next to be described.

Referring to Figs. and 11, the webs are run over a belt or conveyor II8 which may be run continuously at relatively high speed by the rolls, the feed rolls, and the shearing blades, etc.,

- are all disposed at the specified angle. This character intended to operate on a stationary web, and it is for that reason that the movement of the webs is made intermittent. With rotary cutters each cutter may be released for a cutting stroke by the photo-electric circuit hereinafterv described.

The solenoids are operated from a power supply line I24. Each solenoid is preferably independently controlled by appropriate means to insure proper cut of the sheet. One method is to use a light source I26 and a photo-electric cell or eye I28, the amplifying circuit for which is housed at I38, and, in turn, controls a relay I32. It will be understood that a part of the printing of the sheet includes a suitable mark or line such as that indicated at I34 in Fig. 1 for cooperation with the photo-electric cell. By proper adjustarrangement has the advantage of being far more compact, thereby occupying much less floor space. It also has the advantage of necessitating only a smaller travel of the conveyor belt I18. The importance of this compactness will be appreciated if it is kept in mind that the signature may consist of as many as sixteen or more pages. Moreover, the sheets are necessarily collected in proper sequence, for they overlap a substantial amount at the instant of deposit on the conveyor belt. Before leaving Fig. 14, it may be pointed out that the lamps and photo-electric cells there shown correspond to those described in connection with Fig. 13, and it will be understood that each of the shearing knives is operated by its own solenoid, these solenoids beingindependently controlled by relays which, in turn, are operated by the photoelectric cell circuits.

So far the invention has been described in a form using a very small and simple printing. press. Actually the press may be larger, although it does not require folding mechanism. The press may be larger in the sense of providing multiment and timing of the circuit, each sheet may be cut at the proper point. Moreover, the photoelectric cell may be employed to control the operating solenoid of the clutch housed at 86 in Fig. 10, thus stopping the web at the proper point for the cutting operation. A suitable time delay may be provided by the relays for the web to be stopped prior to the cutting operation. Of course, with a rotary cutting mechanism operating on a travelling web, the photo-cell need control only the cutting knife and not the feed of the web.

7 The severed sheets fall directly on the conveyor II8, as is indicated by the sheets'l48, I42, and I44 in Fig. 10. These sheets are moved to the right as viewed in Fig, 13, and are successively deposited on a suitable table I 46, said table having a wall I48 for evenly stacking the sheets. I46 is preferably provided with mechanism to gradually automatically lower the same, in order that the level at the top of the stack may be constant. Specifically, in the present case, the table is carried on a vertically movable rackl58, the teeth of which mesh with a pinion I52 connected to a ratchet wheel I54 operated by a pawl I56.

The conveyor H8 is carried on appropriate guide and propulsion pulleys or drums I58, I68, and I62, of which the pulley I58, in the present case, acts as a driving pulley which is connected to the motor 84, as is schematically indicated in Fig. 10. The drive of the conveyor II8 may be continuous and is preferably at rather high speed, compared to the movement of the paper webs, as each signature is completely gathered, that is, the conveyor belt must move for about half its total length, for an advance of the paper webs amounting to only a single sheet.

Table color printing, and it may also be larger in the sense of handling wider webs corresponding to a number of sheets. Such a press is schematically illustrated in Fig. 15 in which a web I12 is taken from a roll I14 and is passed through successive printing stations I16, I18, and I88, each provided with its drying chamber, these being supplied with a blast of air from a common blower I82. In this way one side of the web may be printed with three different colors. The web is then reversed and its opposite side is printed at stations I84, I86, and I88, each of which is provided with itsown drying chamber. The finished web is rolled up at I98. It is obvious that the resulting web, it narrow, may be used in exactly the manner heretofore described. It may also be pointed out that if one side of the sheet requires only two color printing, the third station maybe used to print the line of adhesive instead of printing a third color.

However, the more elaborate press shown in Fig. 15 will ordinarily be designed to handle a wider web of paper. The single color press of Fig. 8 may also be designed to handle a wider web of paper. In any case, when dealing with a wider web, it is simply necessary to add the step of slitting the web into narrower webs, each corresponding to a single sheet in width. This slitting operation may be performed as the web leaves the printing press and is being rolled at Fig. 14 is a schematic section similar to that shown in Fig. 13, but illustrates a modification in which the paper webs I64, I66, I68, and I18, etc.,

I98, in which case it will be rolled as a plurality.

of separate webs. The wide web may also be slit as his being unrolled and fed to the conveyor belt, and this latter arrangement is schematically illustrated in Figs. 16, 17, and 18, referring to which it will beseen that a wide web is unrolled from roll I92 and is fed by feeding rolls. the upper one of' which is indicated at I94. As before, it is here assumed that the feed is intermittent, a simpl shearing knife I96. being used. However, more complex cutting arrangements may be employed. The wide web is slit by cutting wheels I98, 288, and 282 which, in the present case, divide the web into four narrower strips. These are all out by a single cutting blade I96 which, as before, cooperates with a mating bottom die 284. The cutting knife may be solenoid-operated by means of a solenoid 286 which.

'tailed description thereof.

in turn, is controlled by a relay 208, the magnet of which is itself operated by the circuit 210 of a photo-electric cell 2l2. The beam of light for the photo-electric cell is projected from lamp 214. It will be understood that the printing on the web includes a suitable dot or mark for cooperation with the light beam of the photo-electric cell, the only difference in this respect from the arrangement previously described bein that a single mark and a single cell are sufficient for the entire wide web or the four narrow sheets, as these have all been printed in common.

As before, a number of rolls may be disposed side by side to provide the desired number of sheets for the signature. Thus, in the present case, the roll I92 and another roll 216 will provide eight sheets for a sixteen page signature. Another such roll will provide twelve sheets for a twenty-four page signature, etc.

When dealing with a wide web a plurality of lines of adhesive are applied to the web. Specifically, the web 2H3 coming from roll 2H6 has four lines of adhesive 220.- However, the end roll I92 ha only three lines of adhesive 222, the line corresponding to the endmost sheet 224 be ing omitted in order that there may be an effective separation between the successive signatures when the pages are stacked on the collecting table and subsequently treated to make the adhesive effective.

It will be understood that the entire procedure indicated above for the making of a single signature is duplicated for the various other signatures needed for a complete book. Of course, certain signatures may be made by one printer and other signatures by another, and all of these may subsequently be brought together for use by the binder in binding the complete book. The binding machinery is not illustrated and may be generally of known character, it feeding the topmost signature from each of a series of stacks of si natures and then stacking and cementing the signatures to a cover as is schematically indicated in Fig. 6. The specific adhesive used forms no part of the present invention. The adhesive may be a synthetic resinous material in .liquid form or dissolved in a suitable commercial solvent. This may later be heat-sealed or may be softened by the use of a solvent. A water soluble adhesive may be used with a Water vapor or mistlfor sealing. The important thing, of course, is that the adhesive must be capable of becoming dry or non-tacky rapidly after being printed on the sheet, so that it will not interfere with free uniform stacking of the sheets. The adhesive subsequently employed for binding the signatures together into the complete catalogue,-as shown in Fig. 6, should preferably be anadhesive which is compatible with the adhesive used for the individual signatures.

It may be mentioned that the adhesive may be applied to the edge of the sheet, instead of the face of the sheet, but in such case several precautions are necessary. One is to use the adhesive on only the intermediate sheets and not the end sheets of the signature. Another is that the guide rolls for the web must be grooved or shortened so as not to contact the adhesive until after it has passed through the drier.

It is believed that the method of my invention, as well as the many advantages of the same, will be apparent from the foregoingde- It will also be apparent that the invention is not limited to the printing and binding of catalogues, and furgravure DIOCGSS.

the webs in superposition.

lapping the biased webs as in Fig. 14 may be carried still further by disposing the printed rolls of paper one above the other and feeding In such case, all of the sheets may be cut by a single cut but, on the other hand, differential feed mechanism is needed for each web with appropriate photoelectric cell or other mechanism to maintain accurate registration of the printing on the different webs. In that respect the arrangement with superposed rolls is believed more complicated and more expensive to build than the relatively simple mechanisms disclosed.

This idea of using superposed webs is relatively simple and practical if applied to a wide web and signatures having so few pages that they may all be made from a single web. Specifically, a wideprinting machine may operate on a wide web without using a folder. This wide web may be slit directly in the printing machine and the resulting Webs may be turned at right angles by passing the same over suitable angle bars, thus bringing the sheets in superposition. Each of these sheets (except an end sheet) will have a gummed edge as previously explained, and the superposed sheets are cut in unison by means of a single cutter. With this arrangement the sheets may be adhere even before cutting, by means of pressure exerted by rollers between which the superposed sheets are run. For this purpose the adhesive may be sensitive to pressure such as the adhesives used in Scotch tape. No problem of synchronization arises with superposed webs obtained from a single wide web and single printing press, because once the initial registration is established it is permanently retained thereafter.

Inasmuch as these and other modifications I may be made in practicing the invention, it will be apparent that while I have shown and described my invention in several preferred forms, many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as sought to be defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a plurality of continuous webs of paper and rolling said webs, applying on each of said webs a line of adhesive corresponding to the edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized, unrolling said Webs and severing the same as they are unrolledinto individual sheets, stacking the individual sheets from the different Webs with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets to form a signature by plasticizing said adhesive to cause the sheets to uniteto form a signature.

2. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a plurality of continuous webs of paper and rolling said webs, applying on each of said webs a line of a thermoplastic adhesive corresponding to that edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized by heat,

ing said individual sheets with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets to form a signature by plasticizing said adhesive with heat to cause the sheets to unite to form a signature.

3. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a continuous web of paper and rolling said web, printing additional signature sheem on additional continuous webs of paper and rolling said webs, the different webs bearing different printed matter, applying on each of said websaline of adhesive corresponding to that edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized, unrolling said webs and severing the same as they are unrolled into individual sheets, collecting the individual sheets from the different webs with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets to sequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized, unrolling said webs and severing the same as they are unrolled into individual sheets, collecting said individual sheets with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets to form a signature by plasticizing said adhesive to cause the sheets to unite to form a signature.

5. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a plurality of continuous webs of paper and rolling said webs, applying on each of said webs a line of adhesive corresponding to that edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized by a solvent, unrolling said webs and severing the same as they are unrolled into individual sheets, stacking the individual sheets from the different webs with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets to form a signature by plasticizing said adhesive with a solvent while the'sheets are in stacked condition to cause the sheets to unite and form a signature.

6. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a continuous web of paper and rolling said web, printing additional sheets on additional continuous webs of paper and'rolling said webs, applyin on each of said webs except one end web a line 01' adhesive corresponding to that edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized, unrolling said webs and severing the same as they are unrolled into individual sheets, collecting and stacking the individual sheets for many signatures with the lines 01' adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets of each signature to form a signature by plasticizing said adhesive to cause the sheets to unite to form a signature, the successive signatures being separated by reason of the end sheet having no adhesive.

7. The method of making signatures which includes printing signature sheets on a continuous web of paper and rolling said web, printing additional sheets on additional continuous webs of paper and rolling said webs, applying on each of said webs except one end web a line of adhesive corresponding to that edge of the sheet which is to be subsequently bound, and drying said adhesive, said dried adhesive being capable of being plasticized, unrolling said webs and severing the same as they are unrolled, into individual sheets, collecting and stacking the individual sheets for many signatures with the lines of adhesive thereon in superimposed registry, and then binding said sheets of each signature to form asignature by plasticizing said adhesive to cause the sheets to unite to form a signature, the successive signatures being separated by reason of the end sheet having no-adhesive, and finally adhesively binding a number of diflerent signatures to a cover to make a single book by means of an adhesive which is compatible with the aforesaid thin lines of adhesive.

IRVING GURWICK. 

